Peripheral Arterial Disease

1. Pathophysiology

1.1. Arteriosclerotic disease of an artery, decreasing perfusion to the limbs primarily the lower extremity ( Mc Cance & Heuther, 2019).

1.2. Lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) is characterized by stenosis or occlusion anywhere from the aortoiliac segment to the pedal arteries (Aday & Matsushita, 2021).

2. Diagnostic Testing

2.1. medical history

2.2. ankle-brachial index (ABI) comparison of blood pressure in arm and ankle

2.3. ultrasound of legs and feet

2.4. angiography

2.5. lab tests

2.5.1. cholesterol

2.5.2. diabetes

3. Epidemiology

3.1. "Prevalence of PAD in the United States is estimated to be ≈7%, affecting 8.5 million adults"(Aday & Matsushita, 2021).

3.2. Globally PAD was 5.6 in 2015, indicating that ≈236 million adults were living with PAD worldwide. The greater number of patients were found in higher income countries than in low- and middle-income contries (7.4% versus 5.1%), but, reflecting the population size, most individuals with PAD (72.9%) were in low- and middle-income countries (Aday & Matsushita, 2021).

4. Risk Factors (Mc Cance & Heuther, 2019)

4.1. Hypertension

4.2. hyperlipidemia

4.3. Diabetes

4.4. smoking

4.5. obesity

4.6. sedentary lifestylw

5. Signs and Symptoms (Netala et al., 2024).

5.1. claudication- pain with ambulation

5.2. numbness and tingling of the limb

5.3. limb weakness, cool to touch and pallor

6. Complications (Netala et al., 2024).

6.1. pain at rest

6.2. non-healing wound on the extremity

6.3. gangrene

6.4. limb amputation

6.5. heart attack or stroke

7. Treatment (Netala et al., 2024).

7.1. Medications

7.1.1. statins

7.1.2. anticoagulants

7.1.3. antiplatlets

7.1.4. Fibrates

7.1.5. Thrombolytics

7.2. Lifestyle Changes

7.3. Revascularization

7.3.1. angioplasty

7.3.2. bypass surgery